1. Field
This invention pertains generally to electrical generators and more particularly to a solid state assembly that generates electricity in response to a relatively low radiation environment.
2. Related Art
Events in Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant reinforced concerns of the possible consequences of a loss of power over an extended period to the systems that cool the nuclear reactor core and spent fuel pools. As the result of a tsunami there was a loss of off-site power which resulted in station blackout periods. The loss of power shut down the reactor and spent fuel pool cooling systems. The water in some of the spent fuel pools dissipated through vaporization and evaporation due to a rise in the temperature of the pools heated by the highly radioactive spent fuel assemblies submerged therein. Without power, over an extended period, to pump replacement water into the reactor and into the spent fuel pools the fuel assemblies could potentially become uncovered, which could, theoretically, raise the temperature of the fuel rods in those assemblies, possibly leading to a breach in the cladding of those fuel rods and possible escape of radioactivity into the environment. The total loss of power for the equipment and sensors experienced by the Fukushima Dai-ichi units following the devastating tsunami resulted in an inability to control the valve functions needed to maintain fuel assembly cooling. It is an object of this invention to provide a device capable of passively providing the electrical current required to greatly extend the ability of the nuclear station batteries to control the core cooling and monitoring systems, enabling them to continue to perform the required critical functions during a station blackout.